Passing Through
by Dane Kemp
Summary: Trapped in the Limbo World, the LHID Battlefront wants to get out, but in order to get out, they'll have to do something they don't want to do. This is a collab between me and my cousin Kex3. Check out her page for same story. Review both please!
1. The Awakening

Chapter One

…...

"There's no curtain call, and there's no point in life at all

If each day ends and this bent heart of mine cannot heal" ~Amanda Lee, My Song (English fandub)

…...

A jolt. A twitch. A shudder. A gasp. Then finally her eyes opened. Immediately they shut again, temporarily blinded by the bright sun. She groaned and rolled over, getting up onto her hands and knees to get a better look at the area. It looked like she was on some sort of... track field... at a school...

"You're finally awake." A deep voice, definitely male, said evenly. She spun around and looked up to see a young man eyeing the area carefully. He had medium-length bright orange hair and his face was lightly peppered with freckles. He had big green eyes that seemed to see everything except for her, who he didn't even glance at.

The young man wore a light blue t-shirt and tan khakis with white sneakers. He seemed to be about average height for a guy.

"Am I?" She replied carefully, still unsure of her surroundings. None of it looked familiar.

"It seems so... How are you?" He replied, finally glancing at her, and it occurred to her she was still on the ground. She started to jump to her feet, but grimaced at the splitting pain she felt erupt inside her head. She slowed down and cautiously climbed to her feet for the second time.

"I have a _massive_ headache." She replied honestly, sensing no threat from him.

There was a pause, and then he nodded as though he understood.

"That's normal." He said casually, and I glared at him. Who was this guy supposed to be anyway?

"Is it now? Well, sorry to burst your bubble there, but that doesn't help at all!"

She felt bad for snapping at this guy that she just met, but this headache was really painful. And his remarks didn't make her feel any better.

"Do you have any aspirin? This headache is the worst!"

"No, but I know of something that will help." He replied, and her spirits jumped.

"Well, whatever it is, give it to me-I want to be rid of this damned thing!" She exclaimed.

"Okay then," he said as he turned. She expected him to give her some kind of medicine or drug as he started to reach for some unknown item. But that, apparently, was not what he had in mind. With the speed of a gazelle, he suddenly sped forward and stabbed her in the heart with a knife seemingly pulled out of nowhere. Everything went black as she fell backward in shock. Her mind went dark before she hit the ground.

**~((~^*^~))~**

She awoke about an hour later, lying on a sofa. She was still a little drowsy, and her chest hurt like hell, but her headache was gone. She rubbed her chest where the stab wound should have been and opened her eyes, blinking to get the fog out from her eyelids. There was noise in the room that she couldn't focus on, and her brain still wasn't working right quite yet.

It wasn't until then that she realized that there was no bump under her shirt. Nothing that would be the telltale sign of a scar. Without thinking, she unbuttoned her shirt down far enough to see the spot where she was stabbed. Nothing. She heard a few whistles and a laugh. She blushed, buttoned back up, and then looked around. Nine people were scattered around the room, six guys and three girls. She blushed more, as she realized what she had done.

"Kouki, do you _always _have to be such a creep?" A young man dressed completely black was looking disgustedly at a boy with dirty blond hair and gleaming bright blue eyes.

"Maki, why don't you mind some of your own business?" The one who seemed to be called Kouki growled back while shaking his fist at the dark teen.

"You guys are idiots." A new voice entered the conversation, and she looked back to see a girl with short silver hair staring steadily at the two bickering boys.

"Hey... are you okay?" A familiar voice said, and she looked to the side to see the boy from earlier. The one with bright orange hair. He was looking at her with what looked like... concern? She immediately sank back into the sofa, tense and ready for another attack.

"Y-you... You stabbed me!" She exclaimed, and the boy looked embarrassed for a short moment.

"Well... you asked me to help you with your headache..."

"You idiot! You could have killed me!"

She suddenly had the entire attention of the room, and everyone was quiet. Then, the whole room burst into laughter.

"Aw man, that was a good one," the one with dirty blonde hair said, wiping his eyes between gurgles of laughter. One of the girls, one with bright pink hair, was writhing on the ground with laughter. After a few seconds, that laughter died down and "whew's" filled the room.

"You guys are idiots."

"You know what, Shun? No one cares!" The boy with orange hair looked back at the girl on the couch, who was staring at them all like they'd lost their minds. "Sweetie, we're in the afterlife. You _can't_ die in this world. The reason I stabbed you was to reset you. It's the only way I know of to get rid of headaches _without _meds."

Okay, that kinda made sense, she supposed. "So, uh, where are we?"

"We're in the principal's office of the school."

"At the school? But you guys aren't wearing uniforms; aren't they mandatory?"

"Yes, but we're rebels, like the people before us."

"Like the what?"

The boy in black took over the A part of Q&A.

"There were people here before us. No one knows what happened to them. We only know this because we found a whole bunch of their crap all over the place. It was hard to miss, actually."

"So, what are you all rebelling from?"

"Not what; who."

"Okay, _who_ are you rebelling from?"

"God."

**~((~^*^~))~**

Yuuki was excited. He finally got to see someone appear. He had always wondered what it looked like, and now he finally saw. It was a little unnerving, but actually quite cool. First a liquidish outline of the body appeared. After a few seconds it built layer by layer the bones, the organ systems, the nervous system, the skin, then finally the clothes. The default clothes are the school uniforms, these ugly tan jackets, pants and shoes with a white undershirt. Well, for boys anyway. For girls, it's a white/tan jacket, a plaid skirt (in the colors white, black and tan), with black shoes.

Anyway, it took her about an hour to wake up, and he knew that he had to protect her from _the enemy,_ so he waited and watched. When she finally woke up, he was there to greet her.

When she told him she had a headache, he knew of no remedy other than a reset. It had helped him during the wars against the enemy, so he saw no real problem with it. Well, there was one problem—he knew he would lose her trust. So when he had reset her, he carried her to the Principal's office for introductions. At that point, he had had the feeling that she probably wouldn't trust him, but he knew that once he explained things, she would trust him again.

Yuuki now leaned against the principal's desk, the one that Maki had apparently found some papers and files in about the whole "God delusion." It wasn't till then that he realized that he hadn't introduced himself to the new girl.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners? My name is Yuuki. I'm the one who made sure you were safe. What's your name?"

"Uh, my name is..." the new girl put her palm on her forehead and squinted as she tried pulling the information of her previous life into this world. "My name is...E-em-Emi. My name is Emi."

"Well, Emi, it's good to meet you."

Maki, ever the dark and serious one, burst into their conversation.

"Let's cut the crap, shall we? So, we've all gotta know one thing: will you join us?"

"Maki, she needs to know us first. She just got here, for crying out loud!" Yuuki exclaimed, although not entirely surprised by Maki's tendency to skip straight to the point.

"You know absolutely nothing about leading a group, so stay out of this." Maki turned to Emi while Yuuki glared at the boy. "Are you going to join us or not?"

"That depends; what will I be joining?"

"We call ourselves the 'Like-Hell-I'm-Dead Battlefront.' It's named that for multiple reasons, but I think the main one is pretty obvious."

The girl thought for a moment. "And we're rebelling against God?"

Yuuki decided to answer that one. "Not directly. We believe it to be his messengers that we are rebelling against."

Emi's eyes got wide. "You mean...we're rebelling against angels?"

"Well, we aren't exactly sure. They act like humans, but they haven't been incinerated like the rest."

If it was possible, Emi's eyes got wider. "Incinerated?"

Maki cut into the small chat again. "Is there an echo in here? Yes, incinerated. It rhymes with obliterated!"

"Hey, that's a better term, why don't we use that?" Kouki asked, earning a slap on the back of the head by Maki.

"Shut up. Anyway, people who do what the two 'angels' tell them to do disappear. It's strange. We don't want to do that, and that's why we rebel. Anyway, are you going to join us or not?"

**~((~^*^~))~**

The scary guy, she was sure Yuuki had called him Maki, looked at her. "So, are you going to join or not?"

"You mean, I have no time to think about it?"

"Nope, we have to know right now. You're cutting into valuable meeting time!"

Under pressure, she made her decision. "Uuuuuhhhh, okay. I'll join."

"Cool, recite after me: there is no God, Buddha or Angel."

"What?"

"There. Is. No. God. Buddha. Or Angel." Maki repeated evenly and clearly.

"There is no God, Buddha, or Angel. Now what does that mean?" Emi asked.

"It means you're in."

"No seriously, what does it mean?"

"I don't know. We found it in the drawers. They said it was some sort of initiation."

"Oh."

"Anyway, welcome to the club."

"Um, Maki?" Yuuki asked, realizing something.

"Yes, what is it, Yuuki?"

"Wouldn't our names be important?"

"Well sure. We need to know each other somehow. What's with a stupid question like that?"

Yuuki pointed at Emi to give a visual clue to Maki.

"Oh, right. I guess names would help-"

"I'll do it." Yuuki cut in.

Maki made a face that showed he wasn't happy with that, but said, "Fine."

Yuuki turned towards Emi.

"Okay, you know me; I'm Yuuki Miyamoto. Glad to meet you. The boy I've been..." He looked at Maki. "..._Arguing_ with is Katsurou Maki, but he _**hates**_ being called Katsurou, so never, _ever_ use it. The girl in the corner whose catchphrase is 'you guys are idiots' is Shun Nakano,"

Shun took the space between her name and the next person's introduction to say, "You're all idiots."

"Yes, thank you, Shun. Now, the cute girl on the other couch is Akiko Kagome, but she prefers to be called Kagome; no one is really sure why. The boy who whistled at you earlier is Kouki Suzuki; the girl still laughing at your accidental joke is Miu Kato, though we use her middle name, Megumi. The tall muscular guy behind the desk is Yoko Koizumi, though he prefers his middle name, which is Rikuto. The guy looking out the window and daydreaming is Noboru Kobayashi, but we call him Koba. And the smart looking guy with glasses is Jorou Shiromaki."

"I told you, I'm God!" Shiromaki yelled, clearly irritated by their lack of following his wishes.

"Pay no attention to him."

"You guys are idiots."

The room went into utter chaos after that. Everyone started talking at once, which soon escalated to the beginning of a fight. Emi looked at Maki, who looked like he could take no more.

"EVERYBODY, SHUT UP!"

The room went dead quiet and stared at the one who'd shouted. Maki glared at them all, and just when Emi thought that Maki was going to say something intelligent, like to 'stop fighting' or 'calm down for a second', he said something instead that shocked her.

"Let's finish this outside!" He charged to the wooden double doors and led the eager fighters outside.

Yuuki and Emi were then left alone in the room. She half-wondered if he would try to stab her again. Seeming to sense her fear, he put his hands up in a non-threatening manner.

"Relax, I won't stab you again." He said truthfully.

She decided to believe him and her muscles relaxed. They sat in silence after that.

"So, I'm dead." Emi said, her eyes narrow and serious.

"Yep."

"But that can't be possible... can it?"

Yuuki looked over at her. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, however you see it... It can, and is, possible. Anyway, I'm sorry about all of them, they're all idiots."

"Like Shun keeps saying?"

"Yeah, she might be onto something."

Emi laughed. "_Might_ be?" She asked as she continued to laugh. Yuuki rolled his eyes at her point but smiled anyway.

"So... since they kind of pushed you into this... Do you have any other questions?" Yuuki asked, watching her carefully. Emi shrugged and leaned back against the sofa.

"I don't know. I mean, what is there to ask? I don't even know where to start!" Emi exclaimed. Yuuki thought for a moment, before smiling.

"Hey, I can show you around the place. We can start there while the others are killing each other."

"I thought you said we can't die?" Emi asked. Yuuki shrugged.

"It's only temporary, and it's more like a reset button."

"Some reset button," Emi said, looking to the side in annoyance.

"So, anyway, what do you think? About the offer, I mean." Yuuki asked, suddenly uncomfortable as he knew what she was starting to think about. Emi thought about it for a moment before nodding.

"Alright. Sure." Yuuki smiled and stood, extending his hand to Emi. She stared at it for a moment, but got up by herself.

"I think... It'll take a little while for me to trust you completely. You know... after the whole stabbing thing..." Yuuki sighed and smiled sadly.

"It's okay. I understand." He replied. "So, let's go."

**~((~^*^~))~**

Emi and Yuuki walked through the halls of the school in silence, the only thing to be heard was their shoes smacking against the floor.

"So... Are there others? Besides you guys?" Emi asked. Yuuki nodded.

"Yeah, but they keep their heads low and avoid getting incinerated. Or...obliterated, if you like that term better." Yuuki explained. She nodded and stopped to look out the window. Emi could see the sun starting to go down in the distance. She looked down to see the track field and a bunch of students running.

"Is that them?" Emi asked, and Yuuki looked over her shoulder.

"No. Those are NPCs."

"NPCs?" Emi asked. "You mean like, Non-Player-Characters? Video games?" Yuuki shrugged and leaned against the wall.

"Sort of. It was written in those notes that we found in the desk. Apparently, they're like fillers. They just fill the gap in this world, so we're not completely alone. At least, that's what I got from it." He explained and Emi nodded.

"So they're just like robots. They move from place to place and do their own thing?" She asked.

"Yes and no. If you talked to them, you might not even tell the difference between them and us. They seem pretty real, but they aren't. They all live here with us in the school dorms. There are probably thousands of them."

"Oh, okay." Emi replied, and looked out farther. She saw a bunch of teenagers fighting, and she grimaced.

"Uh... is that Maki and the others?" Emi asked, pointing to the baseball field, far from the student's eyes. Yuuki sighed.

"Yep. That's where they usually go and fight. I really don't get why they have to solve all their problems with violence." Emi shrugged.

"It definitely gets the point across though."

The two were silent for a short while before Emi's eyes narrowed.

"Who's that?" She asked, nodding back to the baseball field.

"Who?" Yuuki asked, looking again as well.

"Those two. I don't remember them from the Principal's office." Yuuki's eyes suddenly widened and he swallowed hard.

"Crap! Those are the two Angels. The ones we're fighting." Yuuki said, suddenly dashing off down the hallway. Emi chased after him.

"Where are you going?" Emi yelled after him.

"They're going after the others. We have to help them!" Yuuki replied, leaping down the stairs.

"But I don't have a weapon..." Emi said to the now gone Yuuki. She then realized that their base probably held weapons and ran there. It took her a second to find the storage closet, then another few to find one that looked good - she knew nothing about guns, so it was hard to choose. She decided to go with a handgun, figuring it would be easier to hold than a rifle. She chose one that was small, but looked kind of powerful. She looked at the clip to see if there were any bullets, saw that there was, shoved the clip back in, and ran out the door. She hopped down the stairs and ran as fast as possible to the battle site.

Emi raced back out through the Principal's office, through the hallways, and leaped down the stairwell. She didn't bother looking out any of the windows as she hurried to catch up to Yuuki. All she knew was that she had to help. She didn't know how she could, only that she had to. It just wasn't in her nature to leave someone behind, so she was going to do whatever she could to help and keep the others safe, no matter how stupid they seemed to be.

Emi pushed open the double doors and ran across the field, noticing how the other students, uh, the NPCs, didn't even notice that she was holding a gun, and, not only that, but that it was drawn. But that wasn't her biggest concern right now.

Finally, she reached the baseball field, and ran around the last corner. And as she did so, she had absolutely no idea what she was expecting to see. But for all that was certain, it would be anything but expected.

* * *

A/N – This is a collab between me and my cousin Kex3. We will update at about the same time. If you review mine, review the same thing on hers. If you favorite me, favorite her as well. Thank you and have a nice day.


	2. The Truth Comes Forth

Chapter 2

…...

"I can't see a darn thing,  
But could it be that the gray clouds that I loved completely blinded me?" ~Amanda Lee, My Song (English fandub)

…...

Emi dashed around the final corner and came to a sudden, sharp halt. A boy with snowy white hair and electrifying sky blue eyes was standing directly in her path, and he was staring at her intently. Emi almost became entranced, trapped in his gaze, when suddenly, Emi realized this boy was the enemy and pointed the gun at his head. His expression didn't falter as he stared down the barrel of the hand gun.

"Are you an enemy?" Came a voice that sounded emotionless, just like a computer. It was low and robotic, almost sounding incredibly unreal.

"That depends, will you kill me if I say no?" Emi replied, not lowering her weapon.

"No, because that means you are no threat. I would have no reason to harm you." He replied evenly, still emotionless.

Emi slowly put the gun down, still somewhat tense. This was the angel everyone was freaking out about? He didn't look very dangerous. He actually looked kind of harmless.

"Well, I'm no threat." She said in response.

"Okay." The boy said, and turned to walk away.  
"Wait!" The boy turned back and eyed her carefully. "What's your name?"

"Takumi." He turned, said in an even _more _robotic sound, "_Guard Skill, Hand Sonic Version Two_," Then ran off, a slim blue blade appearing from under his sleeve. It looked like some sort of bluish spear. He ran back onto the baseball field and Emi watched from a safe distance, curious as to what he was going to do. Once he was close enough, Takumi suddenly jumped and stabbed Kouki in the chest, pulled the blade out and stabbed Miu, who was close by. The blood spilled from everywhere and stained the ground in a huge mess.

The smell of the blood and guts hit Emi suddenly and she gagged, covering her nose and mouth in an effort to block the putrid stench. She was both lucky and unlucky to have not have anything to eat since she arrived. The dry heaves she experienced were painful, but she was glad nothing came up. When she composed herself, she ran back behind the benches and sat with her back to the field. She could join the others and certainly be killed, she could stay and shoot from afar, or she could stay and be safe.

She liked the last option, but felt that she would be letting her new team down, so she went with the second best option. Gripping the pistol with both hands, she got to her knees and took a covered position behind the benches, with a clear range from in between the seats. She closed her left eye and put the female angel in the sights.

Suddenly she noticed something, the girl Angel looked almost _exactly _like Takumi, the boy from earlier. She had snowy, straight white hair that blew easily in the breeze, and she had the same electrifying sky blue eyes. They were basically twins, only different genders... They had to be Angels of some sort. But they were the enemy right now.

Emi pulled the trigger, or at least tried to. It was stuck. She lowered her gun and looked at it. She pulled the trigger harder, but no luck. She looked closer at the trigger to see if there was something making the trigger stick. Eventually she gave up and just sat quietly behind the shed, trying not to pay attention to all the gore that was ripping out in front of her.

**~((~^*^~))~**

Yuuki had left Emi behind. It was sad, really. However, it was his fault, and he'd take full responsibility if there was any trouble. Like one of the Angels getting her... He shuddered at the thought and continued fighting with his teammates.

He had entered the fight immediately; firing two bullets at Victoria, and another three at Justice. It was too late though. They were already using Distortion, and the bullets bounced right off of them. It was pretty easy pickings for the two angels, though—all of the Like-Hell-I'm-Dead Battlefront, aside from Emi, of course, were all present.

The two white-haired, blue-eyed helpers of God were slaying the members faster and easier than a hot knife through whipped cream. _We need to practice more, _Yuuki thought to himself bitterly. He knew he'd never win, there were only four still alive from what he could see, including himself and Emi, who had just made her appearance to hide behind the bleachers.

Yuuki moved towards Maki, who was emptying his entire clip on Justice, who was starting to circle around for another go.

"We need a better cover!" Yuuki shouted to the other leader. Maki's gun clicked and he threw it on the ground to pull out another weapon from inside his jacket.

"Really? I didn't notice!" He shouted back, running over to Rikuto, who was almost out of guns and ammo. Yuuki watched them for a moment, but then saw that Victoria was just about to get him.

"Shoot!" Yuuki said, ducking and rolling to the side before letting loose five shots at the girl. Only one of them managed to hit her shoulder before she reverted back into Distortion. Realizing his weapons wouldn't work, he backed up quickly and tried to rejoin the other two boys, who were fending off Justice, who just stood there also using distortion.

_This isn't going to last... _Yuuki thought miserably. It was all apart of those Angels' plans. They were letting them use up all their ammo and supplies until they had nothing left. Then, they would most likely kill them while they were powerless to stop the angels.

Suddenly, Yuuki felt a sharp pain in his back. He gasped and hit the ground, reaching back to pull out a long thin kunai that Victoria had thrown at him. Yuuki cursed and spun around, shooting another three rounds at her. This time it hit the same arm as her shoulder before Distortion was back. This wasn't working... He needed to get her right arm, the one she used to throw those weapons at him. Otherwise, it was almost pointless.

"AHH!" Yuuki recognized Rikuto's voice and knew Justice had got him. They needed a miracle right about then...!

**~((~^*^~))~**

"So that's where you went," Emi looked up to see the shape of a human figure approach her. She pointed the gun at the figure, only to realize it was Kagome. The red-headed girl watched her with a soft, sad smile.

"There's one problem with that move," She said as she gently pulled the gun from Emi's grasp. She pushed a button on the side near the trigger and handed it back. "The safety was on."

Emi blushed, but Kagome patted her shoulder. "It's okay, we all make rookie mistakes. Now shoot it."

Emi sighted a bird about 50 feet away. She shot, but missed, partly because of her flinching, but also because of something entirely not her fault. The bird flew off, scared but uninjured.

"Aw, I missed him," she said, starting to feel even more miserable than earlier.

"Don't worry, it's not entirely your fault," Kagome tried console her. "You did flinch a little bit, but the main problem is that pistols have terrible aim."

"They do?"

"Yep, it's because of the shorter muzzle."

"Do me a favor..."

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Next time, you choose the gun I use. I have no idea what I'm doing!" Emi exclaimed.

Kagome laughed softly and kindly. "You'll get the hang of it."

Reminded of the others, she snuck a peek around the corner of the building. Everyone but Maki, Yuuki, and the two white-haired teens lay on the grass, blood oozing from wounds that were already starting to heal. The grass was no longer green, instead it was blood red from the LHID Battlefront's member's donation. _The Red Cross would love it here..._ Emi thought grimly as she watched the remaining four fight... Or at least, try to fight. Bullets didn't seem to be working against the angels, and were either bouncing off them or missing completely. And the angels just stood there and waited for the right time to move forward.

"This isn't going anywhere. At this right they're just going to get killed like the others." Kagome sighed and nodded.

"Fortunately for them it's not permanent." She said. Emi smirked, "Yeah."

After a few moments of silent watching, Emi finally had enough.

"Well we have to help them somehow. We need to drive those two... whatever they are, away." She said, and Kagome looked at her curiously.

"That's not as easy as you make it sound. The only way I'm familiar with getting rid of them is causing a distraction and getting their attention." Emi snapped her fingers.

"Then we should try that." Kagome watched her. "So... how do we do that?" Emi finished. Kagome thought for a moment before pointing to the path to the track field.

"They seem to be attracted to any disturbance or breaking of rules. We could go to the track field and cause a huge scene. If we're loud enough, they might notice and chase us down."

"Sounds good." Emi said, and took Kagome's arm and pulled her along to the path. They ran down to the track field and Emi looked to the red-head.

"Okay, now what?" She asked. Kagome pulled a gun out from the back of her pants and pointed it in the air, and started shooting. A bunch of students looked their way, but just stared. It was like this was normal for them. Emi's left eye flinched and she shook her head at the creepiness of it all.

"I think they need more incentive than that..." Emi mumbled to herself, and aimed at the ground, close to the mob of students. She fired two shots, and smiled when the girls screamed and ran the other way. The guy NPCs looked ticked.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" They yelled. Another three shots erupted from behind Emi and she instantly hit the ground on instinct. When she looked up, she saw Kagome had hit the bench next to some of the guys, and the trash can on the other side of them. Finally, the rest of them all yelled and ran away. Kagome smiled down at Emi and then shot more shots in the air.

"Okay, now those two kids are going to come here?" Emi asked, climbing to her feet slowly as she watched the retreating students. "Because I think that was our only shot." Kagome nodded and re-holstered her gun.

"Yes. So I suggest we hide." She said and looked over to a cluster of trees close by.

Kagome dashed over to the trees and jumped up, grabbing hold of the lowest branch, and then pulling herself up farther and farther until she reached the top branch. There, she moved around the trunk until she was hidden from sight. Emi smirked. Dang, that girl acted like a cat.

Suddenly, Emi noticed something. Absolute silence. No gunshots, no sounds of the Battlefront getting slain... No NPCs running for their lives... Nothing. Emi looked around, and then froze instantly when she saw Takumi and the other white haired girl watching her steadily. Takumi looked spotless and clean while the other girl's shoulder was dark red, along with parts of her arm below the shoulder. Emi raised her gun again, but neither of them moved.

They all stood in a tense silence, none of them making any sort of advancement. Emi felt sweat trickle down the side of her forehead.

"Well? Do something!" Emi yelled, her finger on the trigger. They stared at her cooly.

"Do what?" Takumi asked. Emi bit her lip. She definitely didn't want to answer that question.

"...Why did you try to kill everybody? Why didn't you attack me?" Emi replied instead. The girl looked at Takumi and he looked thoughtful for a moment.

"You weren't a threat." Takumi replied, looking at the cluster of trees, thinking about something.

"We were there to stop them." Emi's eyes narrowed and she readjusted her stance.

"Stop them. From what?" She asked.

"From fighting. They were hurting each other," Takumi said, quickly returning his gaze to Emi. I rolled my eyes.

"They were settling a squabble. It's no big deal. It's not like they're actually going to die." Emi said, and then wanted to kick herself. Now they were going to go back and try to finish them off...! Emi looked up again to realize that the two hadn't moved from their spots.

"It's just the rule. They attacked us. It was self defense." The girl said, and Emi pointed her gun at her.

"So you're saying you just acted on... self defense?" Emi asked, her weapon starting to lower.

"Yes. We don't _want _to hurt them." Takumi continued. Emi blinked and thought it over. Well when they put it like that, it made a lot of sense... It made sense that Maki and the others would attack them at first sight, because they don't know any better. But then, how did it get into their heads that these two were the bad guys?

"_There were a bunch of notes in the desk..._" Maki had said so earlier. "_They all disappeared. No one knows what happened to them. We only know they were here because we found their crap all over the place." _Emi shook her head as she continued to remember everything from earlier. "_All we know, is that whoever listened to those two disappeared. We don't want that. That's why we're rebelling._"

Suddenly Emi wasn't too concerned with what Takumi was saying. She didn't want to 'disappear' as everyone put it. She wanted to stay. That's why she agreed to join the battlefront, that's why everyone was fighting back.

"Well, as nice as that sounds, you guys should just leave everyone alone," Emi said, raising her gun again as she took a step back, knowing exactly what they were capable of.

"It is not up to us." Takumi replied as Emi took another step back.

"Yes it is! Unless..." God. Hn... Emi shook her head.

"You always have a choice." Emi sai.

"Maybe on earth, in the world of the living, but here...there are only two choices here-stay or go."

"Go where?" Emi asked, confused.  
"We are not sure. We have not been there yet. We have only helped them go on their way."

"Then why do you know it's better than here?"

"I do not understand. What do you mean?"

"I mean, how do you know that it is a better place?"

"Because there is no feeling of regret. There is a feeling of accomplishment."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you saying we're here because we didn't accomplish everything in life that we wanted to?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying."

Emi scoffed. "Whatever. Where are you getting your information?"

"A boy named Otonashi was here before us. He stayed here for a while before passing on himself. He left his predecessors notes saying exactly what we are telling you now. We decided to take his place, seeing as we will probably never feel complete."

Emi felt dead inside, no pun intended. "So in order to find true peace, you must complete everything-get rid of every regret and complete everything you wanted to. How does school fit into all this? School doesn't make you feel complete! It makes you feel bored and stressed!"

"The school is a relaxing place for the teens. It gives them a routine and in their free time they can work on finding true peace."

"It still seems like a bunch of crap to me." Emi had forgotten about Kagome, as the red headed girl came into sight, but still staying up in the tree. "I'll never find true peace with my history." A tear started running down her cheek, and she was glaring death at the two teens.

"Anything can be fixed here," Takumi said in his emotionless voice. Emi looked at his face and, even though his voice was emotionless, his eyes showed pity.

"That's a lie! No one can take away my pain!" Kagome shook her head, tears spilling from her eyes as she did so.

"I am sure I can help. Please, tell me what's holding you back. It will make you feel better, I promise."

Kagome pursed her lips, a streak of salty water breaking her face into two uneven parts. She swallowed. "I can't trust you." Her words sounded bitter and angry. Her nose was scrunched up, and her eyes narrowed and dark. Before Takumi could say another word, Kagome jumped down from the tree and ran away, quickly disappearing from view. Emi watched her go and bit her lip. What was wrong with her? Did it have something to do with how she died? Well, she figured, everyone who was there had died... right? Emi looked back at the two twins, who were watching where Kagome had run off to. They seemed to be thinking something over.

Emi, realizing they weren't going to go after her or Kagome, decided that she would chase after her friend. Kagome didn't look good, and Emi wanted to know what was wrong. So she turned around and quickly ran after the red head.

All she knew was that she had to help somehow. But Takumi's words continued to echo in her head as she ran back into the school.

A/N You don't have to review both. We'll share our reviews with each other. Do both favorite us though, if you do favorite us, that is.


	3. Helping Out

Chapter 3

…...

"There are souls like me and you

Who aren't aware of what they do..." ~Amanda Lee, My Song (English fandub)

…...

So, those two 'Angels' claimed to be trying to help everyone 'pass on'. But they didn't know where they were passing on to, and all they had to go off of was some notes left by a guy called 'Otonashi' or whatever. But wait... Did that mean that the Otonashi guy was one of the people who were here with the original rebellion? Or was Otonashi an Angel too?

Still confused, Emi shook her head at the thought. She didn't have time to be thinking about such things. She had to find Kagome.

She found Kagome back at the base in the Principal's office. She was sniffling and wiping at her eyes while she sat on one of the sofas. She looked like she was struggling.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Emi asked. Kagome shook her head hard.

"It could make you feel better. And you don't have to worry about me telling the others." Emi continued, smiling softly and kindly. Kagome watched Emi's face for any hint of deceit, but eventually, Emi's kind look won out over Kagome's disbelief. The pain of holding onto it for so long probably contributed too.

Kagome moved over on the sofa so Emi had room to sit beside her. Once the two were comfortable, Kagome began.

"My mother...she died when I was really little. She pushed me out of the way of a car, and the car ran over her. It killed her instantly. My father always blamed me and would call me different things. His favorite thing to call me was "ugly bitch". He told me I was the reason my mother died, and that I should feel responsible, and I did. Everything he told me... I believed. I mean, I had no reason to believe otherwise." Kagome choked on her tears for a moment, and Emi quickly started rubbing circles on her back to help her feel more comfortable. Once Kagome composed herself again, she continued.

"It got to the point where I started to despise my name. My full name is Akiko Megumi Kagome, but every word my father said would be the complete opposite. People would call me Akiko... but it would hurt."

"Because Akiko means bright or sparkly, right?" Emi asked for clarification.

"Yes, and Megumi means goddess or princess. I felt like a living oxymoron-that I was living a lie; I knew I wasn't beautiful, and it only hurt when different people said I was. So I went with Kagome. It was plain enough and it's a given name as well, so I thought, why not?"

"It's... that's terrible!" Emi exclaimed, feeling her heart ache for her new friend. The fact that she was lying to herself made her feel even worse. Akiko was so beautiful...why didn't she see it? It made almost no sense in Emi's mind. If Emi found that no one else had commented on it, she would be shocked.

"I died when my father beat me one night. It was during his drunken rages that he had almost every night. That night was worse than the others. It was the anniversary of my mother's death. My dad was gone almost the entire night, and he returned early in the morning. He was angrier than usual, calling me all those names... And then, after a while, he took me out to the backyard. There was some broken concrete back there, and he picked a piece up and... the next thing I know I'm here... dead."

"Were you by yourself? In this world, I mean."

"No, Maki was here already, Kouki and Shun were here too. Everybody else came after me."

"So you helped found the Battlefront?"

"No, Maki and Kouki had started that. They figured out that people disappeared and didn't want to be a part of it. Something about 'becoming barnacles.'" She shrugged. "I didn't know what they meant by that, but I didn't want to just be "obliterated" either, so I decided to join them." Emi nodded slowly.

"You know... he was wrong, you know." Emi said tentatively, knowing she was treading on dangerous ground. Kagome wiped her eyes and looked at the brunette.

"W-What? Who?" She asked.

"Your father."

The two girls heard shouts nearby. They looked and saw the group coming towards them, their clothes in tatters. "Great, they're coming."

"I...I can't let them see me like this."

"Well, then let's go before they see you. Where's another safe place?"

"The...the cafeteria is...free at this time."

"Then let's go there." Emi helped Kagome to her feet and they left the room in search of the cafeteria. When they arrived it was dead quiet and not a single soul was there. The two girls took a seat a table.

"So where were we?"

"That's what I want to know." The girls turned toward the door and saw Kouki standing, leaning against the door frame, clothes still in tatters. He pushed himself upright and walked towards them, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. "So tell me, did you two make the diversion?"

Kagome nodded, her tears still on her face. Kouki noticed them. Instantly his face went soft.

"What's up?"

Kagome was silent, so Emi decided to answer.

"The Angels talked to us. They said a few things that were... startling... to Kagome."

"In what way?" He asked.

Kagome spoke, startling Emi. "My father blamed me for my mother's death. I was going to be hit by a car but she pushed me out of the way and she sacrificed herself. My father hated me for it, and started calling me ugly. I believed it."

"Well, he was wrong."

"Emi said that too. What makes you believe that?" She asked, staring at Kouki with a strange intensity.

"Because I see you sitting here in front of me. He blamed you so much; he was tainted by his hate. He didn't see you for who you truly are. There's a song I used to listen to. It said 'Open your eyes to the love around you... You may feel you're alone... But I'm here still with you... You can do what you dream', and there's another one that says 'So you lie there holding your breath and it's strange how soon you forget that you're like stars... They only show up when it's dark, 'cause they don't know their worth'. Both really fit you. See, I'm looking at you and see a dazzling young woman who would knock Prince Charming on his butt with one glance at you. In fact, you kinda did." The two giggled at a memory while Emi watched in a stunned silence. Where was this heading?

"I remember that." Kagome said slowly, wiping her eyes once again.

"Kagome..."

"Yes?"

"...I...I really like you Kagome. Like-like, you. With all of my heart. You are the most beautiful person I have ever met."

Kagome looked at Kouki with tears streaming down her face. Kouki turned bright red in the face and looked down and to the side.

"Eh... Sorry... That just sort of came out..." Kouki said, laughing nervously. But then, Kagome said something that surprised everyone in the room.

"Thank you, Kouki. No one has ever told me that before... and actually meant it. I never thought... I mean, what I'm trying to say is... I love you too Kouki. With all of my heart, thank you. Thank you so much."

She stood up and ran to Kouki, throwing her arms around him and hiding her face in his shoulders.

"Thank you." She took a step back. "And Kouki?"

"Yes?"

"Call me Megumi. Please." And with that, she faded away, leaving nothing behind aside from a few teardrops on the table. Kouki looked shocked, his arms open as though he were about to hug her back.

"What? No! Where is she? I didn't want you to leave! _Come back!_" His knees hit the ground and lay his head on the table with a quiet _thunk_. His body convulsed in silent sobs.

Emi got up and put her arm around him. "I think...I think she's in a better place. A place with no regrets, a place where she can finally feel loved. I have the feeling that you'll meet her there." Emi said slowly, trying to remember what Takumi had said about people 'moving on'.

Kouki looked at her. There were tears in his eyes. "Are you... are you sure? I mean...she...she was...she was obliterated..." He said, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

Emi gave him a smile. "I'm pretty sure that being 'obliterated' is the best thing that can happen to you in this world. Come on, let's go to the others." The two got up and left the cafeteria. Kouki wiped his eyes and Emi smiled.

**~((~^*^~))~**

They reached the Principal's Office where the group was sulking. The only ones not sulking were Emi, Kouki, and Megumi.

"Dammit! This happens every freaking time! Is there some way we can NOT get totally annihilated?" Maki exclaimed, kicking the side of the desk in frustration.

"Not fight in the first place?" Megumi said sarcastically.

"There's no way we can't "not fight." I mean seriously, how stupid are you?" Maki argued.

"Less than you are." She shot back.

"Why you little...!"

Maki jumped up from his seat and chased Megumi around the room while the rest sat on couches or on the floor.

Shun saw the two late members.

"There you are," she said, in a calm and slightly irritated tone.

"Where's Kagome?" Emi and Kouki froze and looked at each other nervously.

"Well... She sort of..." Kouki began, but was having trouble finishing.

"Kagome passed on." Emi said for him. Maki and Megumi froze, and everyone stared at Emi and Kouki.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that Kagome was obliterated! Why? How?" Megumi exclaimed in surprise.

"Did the Angels get her?" Shun asked, her voice actually sounding slightly emotional.

"No... I'm pretty sure it's because she found peace. So she moved on. She had no reason to stay any longer." Emi said.

"You're pretty sure..." Maki grumbled. "Pretty sure is not good enough. Are you absolutely sure?" Emi looked down. Honestly, she wasn't entirely sure. This information came from Kenshin and that girl, and they were the enemies of this team. Emi certainly couldn't say she got her information from them. It's just... That just seemed like the most logical answer. What else could she say? But Maki wasn't about to accept that. He wanted a solid answer.

"Well..."

"Well what?"

"I...I can't be totally sure. I'm sorry." Emi said slowly, lowering her head at the truth.

"Then don't say anything if you're not sure! We don't have room for that. Especially with our disadvantage against the Angels."

"I was just trying to explain my thoughts."

"Well, they're your thoughts. Keep them in your head unless they can actually help us." Maki growled, and Emi flinched.

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm so useless!" Emi said loudly, turned around, and then ran out of the room. Yuuki glared at Maki, "Do you have to be such a jerk?" He then turned and ran after Emi.

"Emi wait!" He yelled, running out the door and down the hallways after her retreating form. Maki made a face and sighed. Always so difficult... He then ran after the two team members.

**~((~^*^~))~**

Emi ran to... well, she didn't know where. All she knew was that she wanted to be as far away from Maki as possible. She was only trying to help and he shot her down before she could explain anything further. But as she thought about it, who would really want to listen to her anyways? Maki obviously didn't.

She dashed around a corner and opened the nearest door. An empty classroom. That's right... school would be over by now... The sun had been setting when Kagome... Emi shook her head and took a seat in the back of the room.

What could she do? She didn't want to go back to the headquarters and face everyone again, especially after running away like she did. She wished everyone could understand what she was thinking, what she was going through. There was so much she didn't understand, but also so much she did seem to understand. She understood that the Battlefront was hardly a team. They didn't know how to work together and were always fighting. The two Angels, Kenshin and the twin girl, they seemed to know a lot more about what was going on than the team... But they were still the enemies, the ones the team were all fighting. If they truly wanted them to 'pass on' like they said, why did they attack everyone?

Emi heard the sound of the door opening and she looked up over her arms to see Yuuki standing in the doorway. He knocked on the wooden frame twice.

"Can I come in?" He asked softly. Emi nodded and he smiled slightly before entering and taking a seat beside her. Silence filled the room for a few moments, and Emi made herself relax, her head lying on her arms.

Yuuki broke the silence first.

"For the record, I believe you. I always doubted that we were here just to be destroyed." He paused, letting the words sink in. "I had also pieced together that we were all broken inside. When I regained my memories, I realized that I hadn't fulfilled what I had really wanted." He chuckled, remembering his story. He shook his head. "That's for another time. So, what's your story?"

She stayed silent, biting her lip. Finally she said, "I don't remember my story. I don't know where I come from, don't remember my family, if I had one...hell, I barely remember my name."

"Hey, don't worry. It'll come back. Believe it or not, that's how most of us are when we first come here."

"Yeah, that makes me feel _so_ much better." She said it in a sarcastic tone, but there was slight laughter to her voice. Once she thought about it, she actually was starting to feel a little bit better.

"So, are we going to start helping the others? I think it would help them quite a bit, especially Maki and Kouki."

Emi's eyes widened.

"You want to help?" She asked. Yuuki smirked.

"Of course I do. I wouldn't let you do this on your own." Emi smiled and nodded.

"Thanks."

"So what do you say? About helping the others?" Yuuki asked. Emi nodded as she thought about it. "Yeah, I think it would only be fair. But how should we go about it? I mean, Maki is obviously against us,"

"I dunno." Yuuki thought a minute. "Should we go to the Angels and ask them?"

"That's an idea. I'm not 100% sure about them yet though. I mean, they did attack everybody, and I'm not eager to get myself killed again, or whatever you call it here."

"Is that so?" Yuuki asked, puzzled at her distrust in the two she believed not an hour earlier. Emi nodded.

"Yeah. Anyway, who should we try next?"

"Well, first, let's see if Kouki wants to join us. I mean, he was there for Kagome-"

"She realized her true beauty. I think we should refer to her as Megumi now." Yuuki nodded.

"Sure... as I was saying, he was there for Megumi, so he should want to help, right?"

**~((~^*^~))~**

"No."

"But Kouki! You know most of these guys the best!" Yuuki pleaded. Emi and Yuuki had found Kouki in the hallways, leaning against the wall and staring outside the window. Needless to say, they were shocked by his answer.

"And the answer is still no. Look, Megumi was one case, but everyone else is another. To be honest, I don't even like half of them." Kouki said, glancing at Yuuki only for a moment before looking outside once more. The sun had long since disappeared, and a half moon took to the sky.

"But that would mean that you could be rid of them quicker, right? And...it would be partly your own doing!" Emi said, still trying to persuade.

Kouki thought about Emi's proposal for a minute. He sighed and shook his head.

"It's still a no. Get someone else to help you." He walked toward the building, effectively ending the conversation.

The two friends stood alone in the hallway.

"I was definitely expecting a different response..." Emi said as Yuuki nodded.

"I think he's just getting over Kagome's disappearance. We should give him time to think about it and cool off from everything that's happened." He said. Emi shrugged and walked down the hallway.

"Alright... So, where does everybody sleep in this place?" Emi asked.

"Wherever they can. We used to have dorms, but some moron decided to be funny. Now they're filled with silly string and hidden mines." Emi paled at the thought and shuddered.

"Oh." She said, and Yuuki smiled.

"It's ok. I know a great place."

**~((~^*^~))~**

Maki stormed through the empty and silent hallways of the school. He didn't understand it. What Emi had said, what happened to Kagome, and Yuuki... what was he thinking? He'd followed those two and listened to their conversation. They were crazy. Both of them. Going to the _angels _for _advice_? They were just asking to get themselves obliterated!

He frowned at the thought and headed to his place. After that one kid made their dorms impossible to sleep in, it made things extremely uncomfortable when it came to sleep. Most of the team slept in the headquarters, but there was only so much of their bickering and fighting that Maki could take. Especially when it came to their late night fights.

He just wanted to actually sleep at night. That might have something to do with why they always lost to those Angels, Maki suddenly realized. He'd talk to them about that later. But now he actually wanted to sleep. Usually he slept in the chair in the principal's office, but tonight he decided to sleep somewhere else; mainly to actually _get_ sleep. He was tired of chasing the others around and stopping their ridiculousness long enough for five minutes of peace, if they were even that lucky.

He wandered aimlessly, thinking about possible sleeping spots. There weren't all that many, the entire school had teens that were stretched all over the place. And he couldn't just pick _anywhere_. Especially with those Angels running amuck. If he wasn't careful, he'd find himself obliterated, or incinerated, or whatever the hell they were calling it now. Like he cared...

He found himself at the gym. There were no lights, so he assumed that it was empty. When he checked, he was correct-there was no one in sight. Maki walked in, hearing his footsteps echo all around. He looked around for a good spot, but found none. The gym floor was quite hard, and the stage basically had the same problem. However, there were some cubbies underneath the stage. Maki opened one and saw folded chairs on a cart. Disappointed, he started to close it, when a glint on the floor caught his eye. He knelt down to the floor and, in the dark moonlight, saw that there were clear lines in the dust on the floor, like someone moved the chairs in and out. By the lines in the dust, it looked quite frequent. He wondered what was down there.

Slowly he wheeled the chairs out to reveal a secret door on the floor. He grimaced, then opened it, revealing a ladder down. He looked around, pulled the chairs in, and then climbed down, closing the door as he did so.

He reached the bottom and bent over, panting from the loss of energy he had just exerted. He looked around while catching his breath, and saw that he was in the middle of a tunnel. Curious, he followed one branch-the lighter one.

He reached the end and found a bed. Too tired to think that this was somewhat strange, he sat on it and looked around. It was cool and quiet-he liked it. It seemed perfect. He kicked off his shoes and crept under the covers. He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillows.

[End of Chapter]


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